Strong appreciates the network of filmmakers on Long Island, and says that it continues to grow. In fact, much of the cast and crew for “Cigarette Soup” are from the area. “Years ago you couldn’t find that kind of talent here,” he says. “Most people lived in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.” Though the film featured multiple locations —including Queens’ Fort Totten Park, Brooklyn, and New Mexico — some shoots took place at Nickerson Beach. “A lot of people have never heard of it because it’s so private and quiet,” Strong says of the Lido Beach spot.

Considering Bellmore’s response to “Cigarette Soup” at this year’s LIIFE, Strong and his creative team are eager to share the film with local veterans. He says the idea for the project originated with director and writer Damian Voerg, whose brother was a marine in the first Gulf War. The stories with which he returned home were so poignant that they begged for re-telling on a larger scale. “We decided to set it in Afghanistan because it’s current and there are not that many films about the war in Afghanistan,” says Strong. “The films that are about the war are usually Hollywood-type films, they kind of play up the action aspect of it. They’re not really character driven. We thought it was the right time and the right subject matter.”

Strong adds that he and Voerg were initially worried that people would think “Cigarette Soup” was pro-military propaganda or that they were trying to show one particular political point of view. “It’s a character story entirely, and we wanted that to come across more than anything,” he says.

Strong plans to show the film to more veterans, who have only given him positive feedback. “Vets say the dialogue is realistic, that that’s the way soldiers talk,” he says, crediting Craig Washington, the film’s military technical adviser, with making the piece so truthful. “They also agree that being bored is the worst feeling that you can have in combat, and all soldiers want to do something. Obviously nobody wants to kill or be killed, but they want to feel like they’re doing what they were sent there to do.”